MIT Backs Free Access to Scientific Papers

“Many scientists and researchers have pushed for open access policies, but publishers have been reluctant to give up control of the informational resources they have. Big companies like Wiley John & Sons, The McGraw Hill Company’s Nature Publishing Group, and Reed Elsevier argue that they provide valuable and expensive peer-review, and that there’s no way to ensure quality without the subscription fees that they charge libraries and universities.”

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2 comments to MIT Backs Free Access to Scientific Papers

I do think that most peer-reviewed articles will end up this way! It will take a number of years to get there however, I base that on the events currently unfolding within the newspaper industry. Many printed versions of to focus purely on web based delivery.

Publishers are going to have to be much more creative about the way they market, monetise and profit from Copyrighted material with the Internet. Moves like this are a good step forward and it will be interesting to see where we go from here.